Buena Vista Orchestra

On October 17, 2026 at MTELUS in Montréal, the Buena Vista Orchestra brings the spirit of Buena Vista Social Club back to the stage. Born in mid-1990s Havana around bandleader Juan de Marcos González and American musician Ry Cooder, the project gathered veteran figures from Cuba’s 1940s–1950s scene and put classic genres—son cubano, bolero, guajira and danzón—front and center in an acoustic setting built on voices, guitars, piano and traditional percussion.

Their 1997 self-titled album, recorded in Havana, unveiled an expanded ensemble that included Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Omara Portuondo, each drawing on repertoires shaped in prerevolutionary orchestras. International concerts followed, documented by Wim Wenders’ 1999 film and the 1998 Carnegie Hall recording released in 2008, fixing the group’s live identity. Today, the orchestra format extends that lineage on stage, revisiting the repertoire and arrangements that defined the project, with seasoned musicians carrying the pulse of Cuba’s golden era into the present.